News About Newcastle’s Frustrated Captain

Alan Pardew has said he isn’t too surprised at the low profile being taken by our captain Fabricio Coloccini recently, and we haven’t heard much at all from The Argentine International during Newcastle’s disastrous run of six defeats in the last seven league games.

Fab Coloccini – in action against Sunderland
One thing that Alan Pardew is very good at and that is man management, and he seems to understand completely the quietness of Coloccini during the last few disastrous weeks for Newcastle, and the gaffer had this to say in the local press:

“Colo is one of those players for whom not winning does affect him.” “I don’t think he likes to put himself out there if he doesn’t feel the results reflect very well. I understand that. The fact the results stay with him says a lot about the man as a professional.”

“Cheick Tiote and Colo have been disrupted with injury. That does have an impact. They are massively important to us as they are our captain and one of the key midfielders.”

We need to see a cool and collected Coloccini at the back for Newcastle in the next few very tough games for Newcastle, and even if we can get a much needed win tomorrow against QPR, we have games at Old Trafford and the Emirates followed by a tough home game against Everton over the next two weeks – and the Toffees are never an easy team to play at any time.

But we must pick up as many points as possible in these next four games to start to get clear of the bottom three, and a win tomorrow will help start that process.

158 responses so far ↓

During this tough times, our captain should stand up and get the players motivated. Collo was in the last team that got relegated and needs to rally up the troops, get that fire we had last season back into the team. I remember when we played MU at old traford last season – Steven Taylor and co we throwing their bodies on the ball. We need to get that s.h.i.t back.

Just been checking up on Remy. Recently he appears to have been out crocked -and is coming back to fitness. Prior to his injury problems his strike rate was more or less one goal every two games -so that would be very respectable if he can regain that form.
If Ba does not get sold in January – I reckon Percy Parsnip can show more robust managerial skills – ie “Demba you are playing on the wing or not at all”.

Back on the topic, can we honestly name any Toon player in recent times that regularly faced the music and came to the press and admitted that we hadn’t been playing well, and didn’t come out with excuses? The only player I can think of in recent years who did this is Warren Barton.

Indian cricket is and always will be money-minded. Especially with IPL coming in. Trust me on the fact that many of us who used to be fans during the dravid/laxman/tendulkar/kumble days are now distraught :\

TS
Nolan was a good player but hes a great captain but he stood up for his team against the board so he was shipped out, its why Harps has disappeared imo the players committee was dismantled very quickly

I like it for a bit…its good to have on tv as there isn’t usually much else on that time of day and it fills time….don’t watch it religiously though. I just like to support one of my old team mates who plays in it really.

WWYCD

Agreed….got rid of hoots and the committee and brought in a man who wouldn’t ruffle and feathers (not saying thats the only reason, but sure it played a part)

TS
Yeah Pards is a company man no doubt about that Hoots paid for being more loyal to the team rather than the owner then the committee followed through the exit door. Harps has stuck around though God bless him

“I don’t think he likes to put himself out there if he doesn’t feel the results reflect very well”

Does he mean in front of the press or on the pitch? We don’t want a captain who goes into hiding when the going gets tough. We want spirited players on the pitch, for all the trouble Barton was he was an excellent person to rally the troops. Would the 4:4 against arsenal have happened if it wasn’t for him? Who knows

How can it possibly be progressive to get rid of a proven goalscorer and replace him with an unproven player like Remy. He may ‘look like’ a good player but Ba has shown he can produce the goods even in a team completely void of creativity. Ba is keeping up with the best PL strikers, and out scoring many more yet his wages are less than half of some of these strikers. If the issue is that we aren’t offering him enough money, which looks the most likely case then I don’t see how we can blame Demba. His attitude is no differrent to any other modern succesful footballer and perhaps he looks at the comparitively poor offer on the table here at NUFC combined with the consistent lack of investment and maybe he feels disheartened at the lack of ambition shown by our owner. This could be the case for many of our underperforming players this season, for one Cabaye has been reported as disappointed with the lack of incoming players in the summer. It must be demoralising for our players to hear the same inconsistent rubbush coming from Pardews mouth as we do with regards to transfers, the rubbish which is a direct result of a lack of clarity from our owner with regards to his intentions with our club.

Ibiza Was your last post to me maybe autobiographical about one of the fellow bloggers, with only the name changed? You wrote of work issues holding you back so I will excuse your clumsy use of “direct force” and not responding to my last post. I would love to generate healing posts but I don’t always have the time. I am not daft enough to believe I can convert on the road to SJP but often have to cut out the middle man. What I don’t feel the need to reflect upon is my treatment of the Armageddon Alliance a disparate and growing force. Though built on shifting sand just ready to be demolished. Starting with a victory over QPR tomorrow. It’s the mentality of those who vehemently suggest that our whole future is as good as sealed if we don’t go for revolution rather than evolution. You mentioned bringing your real life world to the blog well maybe I haven’t got it all figured out. I am missing out on life’s rich pattern. Dissemblers, social workers, carers, academics, economists, accountants, think tank eggheads( with apologies to any worthies I have omitted) perhaps I haven’t got much to offer. There is good news in there somewhere just struggling to get out past the onslaught of negativism. Well I truly reciprocate your good wishes. May you and all of yours have a truly wonderful Christmas. Let’s hope that it will not be too long before the blog is in unison in the rendition of walking in a Pardew wonderland.
Synergistically Yours.

LSM – Unproven player in Remy???? Howay man he’s not unproven!! Consistently good player and goalscorer. Yes he hasn’t played in the prem before but neither had Yohan Cabaye when he came in to replace Nolan !!!

Absolutely furious that Pardew has criticised Cisse to the media. He grafts his nuts off on the wing, tries everything to get into positions as well as doing the defensive work. Never moans, is a great TEAM player.

He has scored 4 from September to December. Ba scored 1 when up front, and NONE when played in wide position from February to end of May. All he got was praise from Pardew for “taking oine for the team”.

Cisse does it too, but without the drama, and still manages to look dangerous. He has been an absolute hero these last few weeks. And he remains completely committed to us, although probably not for long if Pardew keeps this up.

It is clear he is terrified of Ba, and he needs to sort it out and start managing our club.

Ba has had preferential treatment all season, will not pass to Cisse, or anyone else, will not commit to the club and he is treated like a King by PArdew.

It boils my pi55 to be honest. I for one will be singing Cisse’s name on Saturday to let him know we still believe in him, even if our tw4t of a manager doesn’t.

LargeSadMenace – agree with all of that, remy isn’t proven in this league not in general. Our league is very fast and physical, if you shy away you will struggle, if you’re prepared to out yourself about you will do ok. Many fans including myself thought Anita looked like he wasn’t up for it at first but could see he had something about him with his technical ability. Ba is proven In our league to score for a team void of any creativity, he would score a hatful if we created chances for him.

Exactly my point, unproven in the PL. If you read my post carefully you will understand that this was not an attack on the ability or potential of Remy but rather on the policy of replacing our better players who are already proven with risque potential, cut cheaper alternatives. Nolan replaced by Cabaye is a great example actually, since getting rid of Nolan the goals scored from midfield have all but dried up. I’m not criticising Cabaye here but why not keep our best players and add to them with signings like Cabaye, Remy etc. This is why I question the owners ambition and suspect some of our players do too.

Naturally a striker will constantly want to play upfront, thats his position after all. If he flat out refuses to play on the wing that is unacceptable but haven’t heard that.

Pardew needed to drop BA from the start and use cisse.

Chelsea have done it with sturridge. They only have sturrudge and torres as forwards. Torres is nowhere near his best but sturridge has been cast aside due to his attitude leaving them with one forward.

Pardew should have done this with Ba and said play where I tell you or not at all.

We then played poorly but got results with ba and cisse up top (scored some spectacular goals to get us points).

We played some good stuff when Ba was moved left though in a 433.

No Pardew has given in to Ba’s demands and put him central. which is causing problems with the fluency of the team as he insists on cisse playing as well.

To me this is not Ba’s fault….this is the managers fault. He either needs to drop one of them (cisse on current form) in favour of a proper winger/wide man or he needs to find a formation that suits them both.

Ba is the problem….but Pardew is causing it by not picking the best team.

Ba is going to go though as soon as an offer he wants comes in so maybe we should back cisse, especially if remy comes in, and make BA earn his place back by following orders.

Rubbish. Cabaye has scored 6 goals for us in total of 49 games. Nolan scored 29 in 85. Tactics may be a factor but I feel that Cabaye’s position is ambiguous. However, my argument is not to put Cabaye down, it’s more about having healthy competition in a squad if we are to truly compete, not replacing players in a revolvin door transfer system

Im of the mind-set that you cant get attached to players anymore, they are commodities and as much as we love the likes of Ba, Tiote, Cabaye etc

They are not going to be nufc players for the rest of their careers! they will go at some point, so if players wnat to move let them, there will always be hungry players who want to come to a club like ours and we have the tools to find them.

As long as we have a club to love I’ll be happy, Loyalty in football died years ago.

My Ba as Scapegoat comment wasn’t aimed at you Transfer Sage, just a general comment as a lot of people seem to be blaming him. Yours and many others point that Ba has backed Pardew into a corner with his demands to play upfront is still canny tenuous lilke. I don’t have the answer erally except that we have little room for experiment with such a threadbare squad and very little creativity. Maybe Ba and Cisse can be in the same team if we add more pace to the wings and get Cabaye playing in his supposed natural position.

I accept your points, and take back the rubbish comment. But really I am deviating from my original point, if we had more options by not simply replacing players like-for-like then we wouldn’t be in this mess. And it unfortunately looks like it could be continuing in this way in january with the ba/remy situation. Yes we may add one or two players per window but we normally lose more numbers than we gain. It’s a ll a question of board level ambition for me and I feel the apparent lack of it is reverberating throughout the football club, down to the players and staff.

I think players would be more loyal if we were to show some ambition to compete. Look at other clubs where players are comparitively loyal-Man Utd for example. Again though the real issue is that even if we were to accept that players come and go despite the success or lack of, to truly compete we need to have sufficient squad quality, depth and competition, not one in one out. In recent years we could have easily kept our better players and bought the players we have done without damaging the financial stability of the club.

If you were in job getting paid good money for a good company and things were good and then another company headhunted you, offered you more money to do the exact same job but more opportunities (champs league etc)

would you be tempted?

Of course you would!

Footballers (although heinously overpaid)

are no different,

The only difference is if you were palying for your hometown club Like Carroll was, this is slighlty different and fans righlty were aggrieved at his choice to leave us for a sideways move!

Teh french/foreign lads have no affinity with newcaslte at all, Ba has no more lyalty to us than he did to Hoffenheim…..why be annoyed at him, we all do the same

unless we palyed for Newcastle, and we might not go about it in the same way, but effectivley, everyone would have their head turned by money…

As long as players give it 100% whil they are here and represent our club proplerly I have no probel, good luck to them and on to the next one

We agree then that more investment is required to compete, an obvious point I accept but it is a painful truth that we could have countless years of this kind of management of our club, Ashley is in a win-win situation so long as the clun stay in the PL, ambitions for succss are just a bonus to his commercal aspirtions. Sad state of affairs.

Absolutely. why not offer realistic competitive contracts to those who deserve them, get rid of the dead wood to reduce the wage bill and as you say bring in 6 quality players using Carr’s magic touch for great budget buys to reduce expenditure? It seems really simple to me and could cost MA next to nothing and in fact work to the benefit of his financial aspirations given the mega bucks paid out for 6th place and above next season. Short term investment is desperately needed, but from past experience I have absolutely no faith whatsoever that Ashley will do the right thing.

Ba is a selfish humn being, he has proved it for years now. But he is entitled to look afetr himself at the same time, so fair play to him.

I have made it clear that my issue is with Pardew being sackless. he told Ba pre-season that he woulkd be central 90% of the time, even though everyone knew that it would make our football less fluent.

Giving someone the number 9, watching him fire us to a great finish, and score some crackers in the process, surely should be a pointer that you are on to something good?

He was close to building a great team. But he has taken backward steps in his own doing.

I see the Ba situation this way – Ba was brought in to fill a space until we bought a number 9. Ba was reckoned to be on his way by that time, but surprisingly offers were slow in coming. Now his knee seems reliable and his form has been consistent, clubs are willing to take a risk, it was always going to happen, NUFC and Ba knew it from the off.

I think Cisse will come back into his game with a strike partner like remy.

We’re only as ambitious as the accounts allow, we know what players we needed in the summer yet the club chose not to sign them and save a few million quid in the process, that decision was based solely on finances. We arent competing with the likes of Chelsea and Man U for big names signings, a few 3-4 million pound players could have done a better job for us than the cover players we have now. The owner may say he is ambitious but his plan are long term no short term. It looks like we have missed out on a real opportunity to bridge the gap by my reckoning. I guess time will tell if we correct it but letting your best players leave for pittance isn’t the right way to go about it. If the release clause was 15 million then maybe it would be a good deal, 3.5 million for one of the leagues leader scorers is bad business as was Enrique leaving for next to nothing. Signing remy for 10 million and allowing Ba to leave for the 7.5 and us coming away with half Is very bad, remy hasn’t played in this league whereas Ba is proven in it. It’s also a unnecasiry 6-7 million outlay on an area that isn’t necessary, we need defenders in first and foremost, not a first team striker when we struggle to accommodate the two we have. If we go on to sign the two defenders as well then fair enough, another gamble in my opinion

LARGE from previous post, – i know exactly where your coming from with your comments about ba – and i would maybe agree with you to a point , however , its not working- something has to change , ba is scoring goals , but we are playing crap- take ba out of the equation , could we play better football? then from that , could we create more chances for EVERYONE to get on the score sheet. at present we have the lowest number of scorers in one team in the prem. we need to correct that if we have a chance of staying up. losing ba would not mean fewer goals IMO it would just mean the goals get distributed a bit more evenly. that is OMO . we cant go on like it is , something has to change and i think losing ba is not the end of the world.

toonarmydownsouth
reply to previous article
BBC Radio Newcastle Total Sport Pardew was speaking to Mick Lowes – matchday comentator
As I said previous blog last night Pardew said he hoped to bring in 3 players and said that a player (forward) had to come in before a player (Ba) left .
And a journo from a top French sports paper was being interviwed the night before about French players on the move and commented that the President of Marseille was in England

Losing Ba is a big risk IMO. Why not add more creativity to the team instead and keep him? This is my point, sign Remy, add creativity to the team, more options means more flexibility to instill some creativity to the team, Pardew’s tactics are questionable but equally he is limited in terms of trying new systems, it looks like round holes square pegs sometimes.

we can’t match the wages of the big spenders but the summer provided an ideal opportunity to consolidate on a suprise 5th place last season (without spending mega bucks on transfers or wages) and keep up with the realistic and achievable target of challenging for fourth with spurs, arsenal and everton. I believe that players who aren’t satisfied with their wages are less likely to have their heads turned if we are competing for fourth and even if they are then at least we maintain the prestige of true ambition at the right end of the table which means decent replacements are easier to attract to the club.

Completely agree, Cisse gets on with his job, does his best and does not complain. NUFC are like the Demba Ba show, the blokes conceited. He don’t give a stuff for the club otherwise he would have reached a compromise with the club and got rid of this ridiculous clause which the dumb fcuk DL agreed to! It’s all about Demba Ba and that’s not healthy for the club, the players or the fans. Play Cisse in the middle and let Ba play out wide, he’s not staying and I think Cisse is an out and out better striker. Ba be gone! AP you owe Cisse an apology, you don’t play the player to his strengths, or the team for that matter…..don’t blame the players for your faults!!FFS

Lol, Mayan’s are not wrong at all. They never predicted the end of the world, Hollywood did. The Mayans say it’s the end of the age of Pisces and we enter into the age of Aquarious today. That is all hahahahaha. Anyway, anyone heard anymore on Remy?

Why should Ba remove the clause? I bet we have a similar clause if his knee goes. Any of you would do the same in his position if you put aside that your a fan. He is worth 80k a week judging by the last two seasons he has had, this clause in his contract helps him ensure he gets his worth. Like I said he is 27 with a bad knee so he could be forced to retire in a few months or in a few years. If Ba wasn’t banging the goals in amongst the best of them then he wouldn’t want a wage to match and that’s why the clause is a concern because Ba is on top form. We pay Xisco 60 a week for zilch contribution and paid smith 60k last season. Ba is looking after himself as we would but when you couple that with a greedy agent it gets complicated.

Judging from the remy reports and words from Pardew it appears like we are signing remy so we can offload a player. I’ll support Ba whilst he is here and does his all for us, he isn’t the one talking about the clause every week that’s Pardew.

Interesting posting on Evening Chronicle Web site
TRANSFER talk around Loic Remy joining Newcastle United has reached boiling point, after Sky Bet suspended all betting on him joining the club in January.

Sky Bet have also adjusted their odds on Demba Ba leaving United to join Premier League rivals Arsenal, to 1/2.

large – your right we need more creativity. i said in an earlier post , we need to be a lot more open , meaning keep the ball on the ground , spray the ball all over the pitch, that means using cabaye and bennie to their max when they return. we have the skill, i just feel BA is suffocating us a bit and limiting our options in producing nice slick passing football( which also needs addressing ) as long as ba is here pards will always be 1 dimensional in his style of attacking play.

Asked if Walcott was worth a £100,000-a-week salary, he said(Wenger): “I never see football like that, you never fix yourself a limit on financial restrictions or not. At the end of the day, can you pay what the players want and does it fit with your wage structure?

The wage demand by Ba and his agents does not fit our wage structure. So if that is the case then he should go IMO. No one player is bigger than the club or should be allowed to upset / unsettle the club. Think Dyer/Bellamy etc. Different situation as Ba is the ultimate professional on the field but the antics of his contract are not benefiting anyone. The lads done great but if he don’t wanna stay then just go I do not want to hear this every transfer window. Besides which you cannot build a team without foundations and a settled team.

I agree with Nick! Ba owes us absolutely nothing. He has been fully committed to the club and we owe him a debt of gratitude for the goals
he has scored often with little tangible support. He is not an instinctive goalscorer in the manner of Cisse but is prepared to toil away for the cause Ba has not been greedy on the field any more than most prolific goal scorers. Given the reported diagnosis of his knee he cannot be blamed for seeking to secure his long term future. Personally, I would offer him a contract to mirror Coloccini’s. We cannot afford to lose good players irrespective of whom we bring in.

Large/nick 9
Have to say completly agree about ba and think it would be a massive massive loss if we let him go, remy i dont think should have much influence on the signing seeing as he seems to being bought in to play LW, whats wrong with having 3 top CF’s?
I think the reaction to ba is harsh to say the least and the club has a done as much to stoke the media fire as ba has
Was this kind of reaction when benny said he’d listen to an offer from a top CL team? No so why ba?

Tsunki
But the club offered ba the number 9 shirt?

Charlie
Cheers missed the interview and cant find it anywhere!

CATCHY
Jeez will ya chill out for one day lad ffs!
And now colo has made your list along with
Ash
Lamears3
Pards
Jonas
Perchinio
Obertan
Why exactly do support the toon? Cos you seem to hate everything about them like

Who would you rather have in…..Pardew was manager of the year last season, Highest finish in the league since sir bobby.

Its down to the board for not signing enough senior players in the summer. Granted the football hasnt been the highest quality this season, but the signs of life are coming back.

Pardew is rated by the likes of Fergie as a good manager, he clearly loves the club and is trying to turn it around.

Sacking him would do only one thing…..Create an unstable club again, the squad would be changed more dratically and we’d go into a potentially dangerous period of transition. At times last season we played some scintilating stuff in the 433 that evryone creams in their calvins about.

The slump we are in is not Pardew’s fault, its down to injuries to key men at awful times, suspensions and the added games in Europe.

if another manager came in the board would deal in the exact same way…..We might aswel stick with a guy the players clearly like, we has the drive to take us forward and the tactical nouse.

I firmly believe that the poor form and confidence has led to us playing more long balls in games out of desperation to get back on terms…..

If you want to get tactical…the main reason I feel for our poor form is our seeming inability to come out of the blocks fast..

Teams always start fast against us as they know we start slowly and lately we have been punished for it..

Pardew knwo this and the games when the players have come out with a different approach we have either won or played better (Sunderland, Man City, Wigan, Stoke)

Ian….I don’t believe so mate, but i’d have to look back at what I actually said 🙂

Direct force was a clumsy way of putting it. I’ve been on here a little while now and have managed to upset a few along the way, although this was never the intention, as I would not have considered my optimistic ways to have been that threatening really. However, time has passed and on reflection I can see that it was relentless and whilst I’d listen to others opinions, the overall positive mood was force fed to people….to some extent. I just take a more relaxed approach to it now, say what I have to say, but battles on here (so to speak) rarely amount to anything other than name calling – which we’re all above. I suppose what I’m saying is by that approach all I really achieved was people to go “oh look, more of that cr*p….next”, much like your catchys recently. As for you, you’re not missing anything, you’re a switched on guy who clearly knows what he feels and whom I would back regarding Newcastle matters all day long.

Don’t necessarily agree. Sometimes when a team is really struggling as we are, a new face coming in can get the place going again. Do you not think all our French brigade for example would not be better off playing for a Laurent Blanc or similar.

Yes pards has a couple of injuries like all teams but from day 1 of this nearly half way through season gone he has persisited with Cisse and ba in a hoofball 442, except the last 3/4 games where we have actually looked better, but has still played Cisse as a right winger and not used Marveaux.

Great managers have a plan A, B, C and D. I don’t think pards knows a plan B. That’s what worries me long term after an initial heady burst last season.

Hey if we get M’Biwa, Remy and a RB and play 433 or 4231 or 343 for the rest of the season, all would be forgiven. If we continue our worst PL run ever v QPR nothing will happen but maybe it should.
then

Tads @92 – but he declined it for his own magic 19 whatever it means. For me I would say that cleared up Ba’s intent as he never saw himself as a long-term newcastle talisman. I don’t blame him and I feel that we should just accept that he was passing through and he will get a cup of tea any time he visits.

I like the nugget about Remy not being ‘proven in the PL’ or such. Can’t remember anyone whining about Cabaye, Anita, Tiote, Cisse ……… And btw Ba’s knee wasn’t proven when we signed him, ask Tony.

Tsunki
True enough who knows maybe the club shop ran out of strawberry syrup!!!
Yeah cant understand the theory of if you haven’t played in the PL your unproven wonder if the same would be said if we signed pirlo 😉

Rotonda
It doesn’t mean that at all but its not just pardew he hates its the whole management team, the board, half the squad or any of our football sine sir bobby

It’s really important we don’t concede tomorrow, so Pardew should ensure Simpson and Santon don’t find themselves missing the QPR half, and only allow Santon to get forward when Jonas is in an adequate position to cover him. (Dont allow Simpson forward at all).

Jonas has taken a bashing recently, but i read Perch is fighting to be fit, so we’re probably best off starting with the fully fit Jonas.

QPR will probably go 4-5-1 and depend on Taarabt and that big lad Diakite to counter attack with speed, which is the reason why it’s so important to maintain a solid and perfectly alligned backline in this one.

Whatever happened to Hoilett? Not heard of him since he went to QPR, injured?

Damn according to journalists on twitter, remy fee hasnt been agreed. So far nufc have only shown intrest and marseille arent keen on selling. So prepare for another debuchy type saga, where in the end we will miss out by a few mil and wont bring in another striker :S

Catchy…..Not jumping in to the debate, as we’ve covered a lot of it already. But it isn’t fact that last season was luck, it’s an opinion. There were elements of luck, that’s a given, but the way you say it implies that’s all it was.

Also, JFK had a bad start, Pardew is having a bad run. Pardew is different as we have seen him provide better, whereas there were no signs of that with good ole JFK.

If we don’t I think it will put a huge ? over Pardew. You’ll never see me calling for the manager’s head or players to go (except Smith!) but there’ll be serious doubts in my mind if we don’t manage to beat QPR.

I’ve seen improvements recently and hope we get the 3 points and that will give us a little breathing space to freshen the squad in January. Remy seems like a good purchase if the news is true but I also hope we bring some experienced defender/s too, that’s long, long overdue.

Catchy
Wanting for better doesnt make a bad a supporter
But you do nothing but slag off the entire club from board to players, you might not like the manager, you might not like a few players which apparantly includes colo now on the ever increasining list, but the fact is they are NUFC simple as, you might not think these players are the future but there still our players, you may hate the manager, he’s still are manager
Never have you posted anything remoteley positive or supportive for that matter, if we lose its pardews fault for tactics and playing jonas and possibly bringing on gabby, if we draw its pardews fault for tactics and playing jonad and possibly bringing on perch, if win its a lucky result and pardew got lucky because he played jonas and bought on bigi!
Im mean ffs man never ever seen you come and say great result after a win its straight in to the same repetitive boring speil every game!

But i never said you were a bad supporter, i have my opinion on that but didn’t say it, i simply asked why you actually spend so much time and effort following a team when you seem to dislike nearly everything about them?

Ibiza – that article from Pardew is a much better response as a fan. We all want three players minimum so him saying one or two leaves you asking questions. Three senior players (not kids!) in the correct positions could really get our season back on track. I often look at the starting eleven and see a few players I am unhappy with and then look at the bench and don’t see any game changers. Three players would help us out massively and Give everyone a lift, if we lose three top players and sign three players then for me it’s not so successful. We need to add to the quality players we already have and lose some deadwood. Even though Pardew questions whether we can do it financially he shows some ambition asking for three, I hope he does mean it and tries all he can. We’re owed a couple of players from summer already

Tads, aye poor Smithy lol, if he were on £25-30K I’d have not said a word but as one of our higher earners and let’s be honest, he was shite for us, part of a good season in the championship but even then…..
I do tend to remain quite optimistic with the team and manager, alot more than most on here, so I think we’ll be up for it, a full house in support, 3-1 but would prefer the 3-0 and clean sheet but somehow don’t think that’ll happen.

Nick….From a fans viewpoint I don’t think we can ask too much more regarding Pardew and transfers. Truth is, this is what many felt he wanted, even without him saying it – it was clear as day he wants more players, but has been playing the balancing act – not too successfully obviously 🙂

2-3 in without any going out for me. Ba does look likely to go, so it should be 3-4 players. Ideally we’d get more, but small steps and all that. 2-3 key players wont all hit the ground running, but it will give Pardew options and light some fires under some under performing players. Let’s see aye.

Indian…Pardew can only say what he wants or what he’s told. Nothing more, nothing less. Personally I think it shows great character talking Ashley up. All Pardew is trying to do is get everyone pulling in the right direction, like any good manager should. Be as p*ss*d as you like with Ashley and Llambias for lack of incoming players, notably the goal scoring CB, but Pardew? I think he does what he can.

At this rate I am up for anything that gets us the 3 points, while I’d like us to do it with a certain style to get the fans encouraged, that we are actually trying to play football but lets get the points and worry about the manner of which later.

Ibiza
After reading this and listening to that radio interview that charlie posted its so painfully obvious that he wants to get the signings he wanted in the summer
For people to blame him on transfers is just stupid what is he supposed to do call wonga and buy them himself??

Tads….I like it. “Hey Pardew, if you want them so bad and care so much, you buy them” 🙂

I do think that with our really poor run fans are way too quick to jump on anything he says. At this minute he really can’t win with the general public, best get back to winning on the field then as it’s the only way I see him being able to get his head above water at this moment in time.

I have long since tired of catchy’s crusade it is completely bereft of any optimistic outlook on any aspect of NUFC. Fine – Pardew out, sack the coaching staff, buy out Ashley I get it I really really get it. In windy weather there used to be this awful moaning rattle just outside the bedroom window. Took me 2 years before I found the cause was a loose rainwater downpipe bracket. Catchy is a loose downpipe.

Does anyone have the notion that the ref Howard Webb has some hidden agenda as regards League placings ..?

Stoke city have had him officiating about 14 of their games ..I don’t think they have lost one of them ..when Webb is in the middle. usually this is an advantage to Man U.. as Stoke might be taking the scalp of a contender that might be a threat to Man U..

He seems to dictate a lot of results against club’s who might be up and coming against Man U.. Sendings off etc. There is some strange Stuff going on when Webb is at large in a game

Any particular game always seems to be about
Howard Webb

If you study him YOU will be Shocked .. Check out a
U tube compilation When he reffed this seasons game Newcastle United V Man U

How Van Persie got away with the elbow in Cab’s face after looking around to see if the ref was watching ..!then caught on camera …did you notice match of the day would not show any close ups ? that was down to pandering to Ferguson.. , they are scared he wont speak to them for another 10 years..

One particular bad tackle from Van persie was also waved on ..Shocking, Webb the cheat …

I can show everyone the cheating video evidence.

After Webb reviewed the video evidence ..(supposedly)
on the Monday after the Man U game, and said no case to answer as regards Van Persie on Cabaye .. Well that should of proved to the nation that
Webb is a total CHEAT.

HE dictate’s games, he determines the outcome, he is playing his own little football manager game for real..

Worst Referee I have ever seen. Where people get the idea he is a top ref ..well they are easily fooled .Webb is
Dictating the outcome of games

Our GAme against Man U last season ,,well he could not deny us our clear goals ..He would have wanted to, He did however deny us a clear clear Penalty right in front of him ! absolute clear view, when Ferdinand brought BA down, Remember ? Webb..NO PEN ! Total Cheat.

In honor of two dedicated Newcastle fans, who lost their lives supporting Newcastle United.

Their passenger jet was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday July 17th, 2014 by rebels, as they were traveling to support the team in New Zealand.

We will never forget them.

Health Update - 4 Aug, 2016

The good news last week was that after more blood tests my PSA count is still undetectable

This means the prostate cancer is still under control, and there is no trace of it in the body.

Now to be even more vigilant so I can see the Rafa Benitez project come to its fruition over the next few years - wouldn't want to miss that.

Howay The Lads!!>

Ed Harrison

What Is A Football Club?

What is a club in any case?

Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it.

It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes.

It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city.

It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.